The Chicago Tribune is selling a bombshell 16-page pamphlet titled "Essence of the Late Copperhead Convention" for just a nickel, packed with "treasonable and revolutionary utterances" from Democratic leaders like Vallandigham, Fernando Wood, and Cox. The paper urgently urges Union supporters to distribute it everywhere—especially to soldiers in the army—calling it "the best campaign document yet issued." This comes as the 1864 presidential race heats up with General George McClellan as the Democratic nominee. Meanwhile, on the war front, General Sheridan continues harassing Confederate General Early near Winchester, while rumors swirl that Admiral Farragut has captured Mobile, Alabama. General Sherman is receiving fresh reinforcements under A.J. Smith near Atlanta. Most strikingly, the Tribune reports that Confederate leaders in Richmond are openly betting everything on a McClellan victory—some even preparing for a major pitched battle to defeat Grant before November, hoping to swing the election toward peace negotiations that would secure Southern independence.

September 1864 was a pivotal moment: Lincoln's re-election was far from certain, and the Democratic Party had nominated McClellan, Lincoln's former general and a war critic, on a peace platform. The Confederacy saw this as their last real hope—not military victory, but political victory in the North. If McClellan won, the South believed they might negotiate independence rather than face unconditional surrender. This explains the Tribune's fury: the paper views the Democratic platform and McClellan as effectively pro-rebellion. The irony is brutal—the Democrats were fracturing over whether McClellan was even genuinely a peace candidate, while Confederate leaders were counting on him to save their nation. Lincoln would win handily in November, but in September, that outcome was genuinely uncertain.

• The Tribune explicitly calls the Democratic Convention and platform treasonable and a system of 'new Democratic electioneering'—suggesting the party itself is complicit with rebellion, not just disagreeing on war policy.
• Abbe McMasters, editor of the Freeman's Journal (the most influential Catholic paper in the country), demands McClellan give a 'blunt answer' on whether he truly supports peace—and warns that 'two hundred thousand enrolled voters...sold at Chicago, but not delivered' are ready to bolt if McClellan won't commit to ending the war immediately.
• The Tribune includes a rare editorial correction stating that 'the whole tribe of Jews' are NOT buying Confederate bonds, explicitly naming August Belmont as the real culprit and defending Jewish Republicans and War Democrats as 'strong Unionists'—an unusual defense against what appears to be antisemitic conspiracy rhetoric circulating in the papers.
• A steamboat explosion on the Sacramento River killed or injured 150 people in California—a catastrophe buried in three lines, showing how the Civil War dominated headlines even as other tragedies occurred.
• The Illinois State Fair is happening that week in Decatur with detailed railway instructions—showing life went on; three different train routes are listed with exact times, suggesting agriculture and commerce continued even as the nation convulsed.

• The Tribune charged just 5 cents per copy of its Copperhead Convention pamphlet, or 30 cents per dozen—that's roughly $1.50 in today's money per copy. The goal was saturation: get it to every voter and every soldier before November. It worked: Lincoln won with 55% of the popular vote.
• Senator Semmesof Louisiana (quoted here expressing rebel hopes for McClellan) was actually a famous Confederate naval officer—the same Raphael Semmes who commanded the CSS Alabama, the legendary Confederate raider. By September 1864, even Confederate senators were admitting they couldn't win militarily.
• General Sherman received these reinforcements from General A.J. Smith just as he was preparing for the Atlanta Campaign's final phase. Smith's arrival proved decisive; by early December, Sherman began his famous March to the Sea—a campaign that would devastate Georgia and prove that Union military power had become overwhelming.
• George Pendleton, McClellan's running mate and mentioned here as having an impeccable record, would later become one of the architects of the gold standard in American finance, serving in Congress long after the war. The 'peace Democrat' ticket of 1864 dispersed into very different political careers.
• The paper's indignation over Confederate leaders openly campaigning for McClellan reveals a truth Lincoln's supporters hammered home: a Democratic victory would mean negotiations with rebels still fighting. The strategy worked—the Tribune's very anger and evidence of rebel hopes may have convinced moderates that only Lincoln could finish the war.